With Financial Conditions on the Mend, Fed Keeps Printing

By

Justin Lahart

Oct. 14, 2012 4:55 p.m. ET

It used to be that getting a read on how much money was sloshing about in the economy, and what it might do, was fairly straightforward: Take a look at money supply, do a little math and that was that.

These days, measuring money is a lot tougher. In turn, that has made it harder to figure out how much traction the easy-money policies of the Federal Reserve and other central banks are gaining.